Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a document handling apparatus
and specifically concerns a means for automatically moving
sheets of material sequentially into a predetermined position
on a work surface and then moving that sheet of material out
of that position to make room for the next sheet.
As will be un~erstood by referring to U. S. Patent No.
4,076,233, Clifford Knight, issued February 28, 1978, quick
and accurate movement of documents to a registered predeter-
mined location and removal of these documents is important
in the processing of sheet material as for example,in the
environment of a copying machine. Thus, in the copying
machine for example, an automatic document handler must not
only rapidly move the document onto a platenr but must
accurately register that document in a specific predetermined
copying position or area to assure the production of a
complete and visually acceptable copy. If the document is
situated on the platen in a skewed or misaligned position
within the area, the copy will reflect this same skew or
misalignment and may be incomplete and/or unacceptable to
the user. If the original is wrinkled, torn or creased
it may not produce good copies and will not be acceptable
to the user for a great number of reasons, not the least
of which may be unsuitable for subsequent use in a
machine or automated processor. Moreover, the automated
handler must be able to perform these functions efficiently
with
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a maximum range of paper or material weights as documents
copied may vary from light weights such as what is known as
"onion skin" in the order of 50 grams per square metre to
much heavier weights in the order of 120 grams per square
metre.
While the prior art has concerned itself with
document handling apparatus which moves a document onto a
work surface, registers it and then moves it on, it has
failed to recognise, so far as we are aware, the invention
herein according to which there is provided a document
handling apparatus including document feed means for feeding
documents one at a time past a registration means into a
processing area, document transport means positioned over
said processing area and adapted to contact a portion of - .
each of said documents for controlling its movement, said
transport means being adapted to move said document in a
first direction into said processing area, to reverse said
document to move it in a second direction to register said
document in cooperation with said registration means and,
after processing, to move the document again in said first
direction to remove it from said processing area, baffle
means overlying said processing area adjacent such
registration means, and lift means for moving said baffle
means into and out of engagement with said registration
means, said baffle means being arranged such that in use of
the apparatus it is moved out of engagement with said
registration means during movement of a document in said
first direction into said processing area, and is moved
into engagement with the registration means during movement
of a document in said second direction to prevent movement
of said document past said registration means during
registration of said document.
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According to one feature of the invention said
registration means and said baffle interleave so that when
they are in operative contact with each other said document
is prevented from passing said registration means.
In order that the invention may be more fully
understood a preferred embodiment thereof is described with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a documenthandling apparatus in place on a
copying machine; : ::
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Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of
a portion of the apparatus of Figure l; :.
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Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a
: baffle means in place over a curved
: exposure station;
` Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of
another embodiment of the invention
, showing matlng
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raised portions on the registration means
and an overlying edge of the baffle means;
Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the
- mating sections of Figure 4; and
Figure 6 is an enlarged view of an embodiment of a
baffle guide configuration adjacent the
registration edge.
Referring to Figures l and 2 of the drawings there is
shown a portion of an automatic electrostatic reproduction
machine 10 of the type disclosed for example in U. S.
patent number 3,301,126 having a document handling apparatus
of the invention generally indicated at 20 overlying a work
i station comprising an exposure area or platen 12 of the
machine 10 and extending over an upper surface 14 of a sort- ;
' er extension 15 of the machine. The document handler 20 is
' synchronised with the control of the machine 10 to auto-
matically feed documents, (which documents may also be
referred to as "originals" to distinguish them from their
copies) to the platen 12, register them, hold them in
position until the selected number of copies have been
produced by the machine 10 as required and then remove
them from the platen while feeding the next document to
be copied.
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One method of producing the copies by the machine 10
will be understood for example by reference to the
above mentioned patent 3,301,126 from which it will
be seen that the platen 12 is illuminated from below
as suggested by the lamps 13 in Figure 2 and the
image on an upper surface 12a of the platen reflected
` on to a photo receptive surface (not shown here) :
where the image is developed and from which it is
transferred to a suitable substrate to produce the
10 copy.
Document handling apparatus 20 generally
comprises a sheet material feeder means 30 and a
document transport means 50. The feeder means 30
. includes a document supply tray 24, a separator
means 32 and a pair of advancing or pinch rolls 34
which are adapted to feed any relatively bendable
sheet-like material such as paper, film, etc., one
sheet at a time from a quantity of documents, which
may be of random size and thickness, to a predeter-
mined position where the document transport means
50 may take control.
For specific details of an embodiment of a
sheet separator means 32 which has been found to
perform particularly well in this environment
reference may be made to Canadian application ~ -
Serial No. 263,881, filed October 21, 1976.
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In operation, documents 22 which may be of the
ordinary business type having generally parallel and
straight forward and rear edges 22a, 22b respectively,
are placed face down for copying in the inclined
tray 24 so that the forward edge 22a of the documents
will be held normal to the direction of document
travel by a suitable restraining means 36.
The alignment of the document feed means 32
relative to the processing station 12, which may be
an exposure station, is preferably such that the -~
centre line of the documents remains at generally
the same position regardless of the width of the ~ ~
document. This alignment is provided by a pair of -
self-centering side guides 26 and 27 on opposite
sides of the supply tray 24 which restrain the
side edges of the documents generally parallel to
the direction of feeding movement and tend to assure
the feeding of documents from a central area of the
stack or pile regardless of the width of the stack.
With the documents thus in place and the
processor 10 set to make the required number of
copies of each document 22, automatic operation is
initiated by activation of a suitable "start print"
control.
From its position on the bottom of the
document pile in tray 24 the first document is
separated from the remainder of the stack by the
sepa-rating means 32 and fed forward over a guide
33 so that its forward edge 22a enters into the nip
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of the driven pinch rolls 34 which rolls pull the
document 22 completely from the tray and move its
forward edge 22a over a registration edge means 40 and
under the control of the transport means 50.
The document transport means 50 preferably
comprises an endless belt means 52 riding over a`nd
extending between a first roller means 60 and a second
roller means 70, whereby the belt means 52 is movable -
in alternate first and second directions. The roller
means 60 and 70 rotate on shafts 61 and 71 respective-
ly which are mounted on a movable frame means 80
located centrally along opposite sides 12b and 12c
of the platen upper surface 12a so that the belt
entrained thereover extends across the central
portion of the platen or processing station 12, as
may be best seen in Figure 3. The frame 80 supports
; a suitable outer cover 82 which hides the moving
parts and prevents light from entering the platen 12.
Advantageously the first roller means 60 is of~
small diameter (e.g. 1.5 inches) so that a nip 62
between the belt means 52 entrained thereover and
the platen surface 12a may be as close as necessary
to the edge 12b of the platen and to the paper feed
means 30. The belt means 52 rests on the platen
surface 12a and is made of a material such as
; silicon rubber on a flexible backing and is prefer-
ably white on its outer surface and has a high co-
efficient of friction with paper type materials, e.g.
1.0-1.5. The platen surface 12a will usually be
smooth glass so that its coefficient of friction
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with the paper or belt is relatively low e.g. less than
1Ø Consequently, a document in the form of a material
with a high coefficient of friction such as paper for
example, will be effectively gripped by the belt 52 on
- its upper side when it is fed into the nip 62 and caused
to slide over the surface 12a on its lower side under ~
the control of the belt means 52. -
A registration member 40, functioning to align
documents in a predetermined relationship, extends along
platen edge 12b and is arranged so that documents being
fed toward the platen 12 in a first direction pass smooth-
ly thereover; however, it includes an edge 42 raised
above the surface 12a so that once a document passes
thereover and is moved in a second, reverse, direction,
a trailing edge 22b of the document held against the
surface 12a will abut thereagainst. As shown broadly
` in Figure 3, a baffle means 200 may be provided, to
assure proper abutment of the document edge against the
registration surface 42 by preventing the document edge
riding back over the registration surface 42.
Details of an embodiment of the baffle means 200
may be seen in Figure 3 to include a member generally
indicated at 202 overlying the processing station 12
- and extending on opposite sides of the belt means 52.
The member 202 has a first edge portion 202a overlying
the registration member 40 and a second, opposite edge
portion 202b, pivotally mounted to the frame 80 by
means of hinge portions 204 and 206 which are rotatably
mounted on an axis means 208 that is secured to the
frame 80. The portion 202a of member 202
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is movable into and out of operative engagement with
the registration means 40 by a lift mechanism generally
indicated at 210 that is connected with a drive axis 61
for said transport roller means 60.
A clutch means 212 transmits a portion of the
rotary motion of the drive 61 in the direction indicated
by the labelled arrow during feeding drive to a lift arm
214 that co-acts with a lifting bar 220 (suitably
secured to the baffle member 202 by portions 224 and
226) to pivot the baffle member upwardly about axis 20
and raise edge portion 202a above member 40. In this
raised position a sheet of material may pass under the -
baffle and over the registration member 40 onto the
surface 12a. When the drive reverses to move the belt
in the registration direction as indicated by the
labelled arrow, the clutch pivots arm 214 downwardly
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causing the trailing edge 22b of document 22 to abut
the edge 42 and preventing its movement therepast.
` 20 In practice we have found that the clutch 212 is
advantageously a friction type clutch such as a
friction over-ride clutch for example which will allow
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rotation of the drive after the baffle reaches its
open or closed position. Suitable means limit the
upward vement of the baffle means. While the
clutch 212 has been shown as being co-axial with the
drive axis 61, it will be understood that other arrange-
ments are contemplated to be within the scope of this
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invention. According to an embodiment of the invention
we have found that configuring the edge portion 202a and
the registration member edge 42 with meshing or inter-
leaving portions 242 such as square teeth provides an
operative registration edge as soon as the teeth inter-
mesh even though they have-not reached the fully closed
position shown in Figure 5. In practice we have found
that regularly spaced square grooves in the edge 202a
and in the edge 42 provides excellent results. The
edge 202a advantageously curves upward slightly as
shown in Figure 5 to facilitate entrance of the sheet
material. The angle of the edge 42 with the platen
surface 12a preferably is less than 90 to urge the
-, edge against the platen. In addition, the baffle 202
- may have a guide ridge portion 202c as shown in Figure
6 to urge the document edge against the lower portion
; of the registration edge 42.
In the schematic of Figure 3 an opening 250 -
` allows the narrow belt means 52 to pass into contact
with the platen surface 12a; however, this does not
mean that the halves need be separate portions and in
fact we have found a single piece baffle member 202
~` to be preferable. In such cases suitable bridging
portions are provided that allow easy movement of
belt.
The baffle means is generally uniformly spaced
above the platen surface 12a as indicated in Figure 5
and in practice we have found a spacing of 0.035 to
0.050 inches to provide excellent results by allow-
ing adequate room for a wide thickness range ofsheet material to move freely and yet small enough to
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prevent undesirable buckling and creasing of the thinest
material when it is registered under the worst conditions
e.g. high humidity.
~ support means 55 for the belt means 52 is positioned
on the outside of the belt means 52 to form a hitch above the
- platen 12 at an intermediate point between the first and
second roller means 60, 70, respectively so that the belt
means contacts the processing station surface 12 at two
separated contact areas 56, 57 along its length, one being
10 on each opposite side of said intermediate point, as is -~
shown in Figure 2. Preferably, the intermediate point is
generally halfway between the first and second roller means.
In practice we have found that contact areas of a length
, of two to three inches provide sufficient control of the
document. The belt support means 55 preferably is a
highly durable material having a coefficient of friction
such as Delrin (Trademark) for example. It may be of
fixed configuration as shown or may take other equivalent
forms.
Other idler rollers such as shown at 58, 59 may be
provided as required at other positions along the length
of the belt means 52. These may be positioned to ad~ust
belt tension.
The separated contact areas have the advantage that the
area of frictional engagement between the belt means and
the document may be set to assure a good grip of the
document by the belt as it is being moved onto the -
platen 12, but yet allow pivoting of the document in a ~ -
` generally central area as shown in Figure 4 so that any
-~ 30 skew may be corrected when the document is moved by the
belt against the registration member 40. With a full width
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belt, ~rictional contact between the document and the belt
tends to be so great that no amount of skew of the document
can be corrected on registration and the document will buckle.
A further advantage of the multiple contact areas is
that the functions of document positioning and ejecting are
separated. Generally, for the most~part the former is
controlled by the area 56 and ejection from the platen is
controlled by the area 57. The magnitude of the forces as
the document may be controlled by varying the coefficient
of friction of belt support means 55. Thus, the higher the
coefficient of friction of means 55, the greater the
tension difference on either side of the support means. ;~
An additional benefit of the intermediate support 55
is to limit the amount of sag in the belt means 52 when the
transport means 50 is lifted from its operative position on
the platen to an inoperative position above the platen as
~ shown for example by the dotted lines in Figure 2, and in
'~ Figure 4.
By using a narrow belt means 52 with a crowned roller
means 60, 70, construction is greatly simplified in that no
side guides are required and tracking problems are greatly
reduced from whatthey are known to be with a wide belt.
~' Thus, we have found that a wide belt, or one with a length
'I to width ratio of less than about 35-1 does not track
accurately without guides and/or very expensive precise
alignment of the pulley axes and therefore may have a
tendency for sideways moyements which could cause skewing
of the document.
We have found that a narrow belt by contrast i.e. one
of greater than a 35-1 length to width ratio, tracks very
' welI without any guides and does not cause the document to
skew.
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Operating the belt means 52 in a stable condition
on crowned pulleys or rollers 60, 70 without edge guides
eliminates the belt edge wear and possible detracking
which may occur under unstable conditions. Accordingly,
maintenance is minimised. The driver roller means 60,
may advantageously be rubber tyred.
Power to drive the paper feeder means 30 and the
belt transport means 50 is supplied by a motor 90 which
may be advantageously located under the document tray 24.
10 Rotary motion is transmitted from the motor drive gear 91
to a pair of counter rotating gears 92, 93 which in turn
are each connected via clutch means 92a, 93a to chain
~; drive sprockets 92b, 93b respectively whereby alternate
engagement of the clutches will transmit counter clock~
wise or clockwise rotation respectively to a chain drive
means 94. A clutch surface between the gears 92, 93
and sprockets 92b, 93b is engaged or disengaged by a
clutching means which is electrically energised in
response to machine control logic. The chain drive
20 means 94 in turn causes the pinch rolls to drive
intermittently and a series of interconnected gears
~, generally indicated at 95 to alternately drive axis 61
and the first roller means 60 in opposite first and
second directions and turn the platen baffle lift means ~ -
210 as required.
Y In operation, as the sheet feeder 30 begins to
separate and feed document 22, the platen baffle means
200 is raised by the lift means 210 to open a document
entrance gap below it and above the registration
30 member 40 so that documents advanced by the pinch
rolls 34 will enter the gap. When the pinch rolls 34
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pass the forward or leading edge 22a of a document toward
the nip ~2 of the document transport means 50 a sensing
switch located between them is tripped which causes a
trailing edge 22b of the document to be detected after
which by a small delay the baffle 200 is caused to close
against member 40 and the belt means 52 is caused to
reverse to the second direction. The reverse movement
of the belt means is timed to allow the trailing edge to
abut the registration surface 42 and cause the belt means
10 52 to slip over it briefly to assure full registration -
and correction of any skew.
Closure of the baffle 200 against the registration
member 40 prevents movement of the trailing edge 22b
over the registration edge 42 and minimises the oppor-
tunity of the document 22 to buckle. In practice
paper weights in a limited range of 47 to 120 grams per
square metre have been very successfully handled giving
rise to the belief that a much greater range may be
accommodated.
Accurate registration of the document 22 on the
exposure surface 12 is essential in that the relation-
ship between a document to be copied, the mechanism by
which it is to be copied and the material onto which it
is to be copied are very precisely predetermined so
I that if registration is off the copy will not, in most
;l cases of 1:1 copying onto document sized paper, include
~i' all of the original document. Even where document
margins are such that essential information would not
be lost as a result of misregistration nevertheless
the aesthetics and integrity of copy would be
severely reduced in the eyes of a reader. In most
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people's eyes it just would not look right and hence the
information it conveys may suffer as a result. According-
ly this is not acceptable.
After the document has been registered the predeter-
mined number of copies are made and the logic control
activates the document handler 20 to eject the copies
document and forward the next document for registration
and copying in ~imilar fashion. This continues until a
sensing switch (not shown) in the tray 24 detects the
absence of documents and automatically stops the apparatus.
Although the invention has been described in terms of
a single narrow centrally located belt means 52 it is
within the scope of this invention that the centrally
located belt means may comprise two or more parallel
narrow belts.
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While the preferred embodiment described has included
a curved platen it will be understood that the invention
herein is not so limited but applies as well to flat
platen and other processing station configurations. More-
over, it will be understood that the terms - "platen" and
"exposure area" are intended to include any work station
where a sheet of material is to be positioned so far as
practical in a predetermined place. Thus, generally it
matters not for what reason the sheet material is so
positioned or the specific act performed upon it. For
example, the "exposure" may include electronic scanning
or magnetic read off.
While we have described and illustrated herein a
preferred form of the invention, it will be apparent to
those skilled in the art that changes and modifications
may be made thereto without departing from the spirit
and intent of the invention which is limited only to
scope of the appended claims.
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